TRANSNATIONAL FAX #36

Information bulletin on the campaigns of the Transnational Radical Party

Number 36, 25 October 1999

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* Editor's Office: Mihai Romanciuc, Marco Perduca - Via di Torre Argentina 76, 00186 Rome (IT)

Tel :+39-06-689.791

Fax :+39-06-6880.5396

E-Mail:radical.party@agora.stm.it

URL :http://www.radicalparty.org

Telnet:agora.stm.it

* Printing and Distribution: Alberto Novi (BE)

* Published in English, Italian, French, Russian, and Spanish.

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in this issue:

- Death Penalty: Resolution at the UN in New York

- ICC: 88 signatories to the Rome Statute

- East Timor: Commission of Inquiries nears establishment

- Kosovo: political prisoners still missing

- Drugs: where is the UNDCP World Drug Report?

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Dear friends,

On October 7 the Permanent Mission of Finland to the UN presented, on behalf of the European Union, a draft resolution on the question of the death penalty (for the text browse www.radicalparty.org). As of today 72 UN Member States have cosponsored the document. The 3rd Committee (Human Rights) will take into consideration the matter the second week of November and vote on it after amendments will be presented and discussed.

To launch the international activities that the Radical Party and Hands Off Cain (a league of Parliamentarians, Mayors and citizens for the abolition of the death penalty by 2000) will carry out in until the vote, the Hon. Emma Bonino, MEP former European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and former Secretary of TRP was in New York for a series of events. On Tuesday 12, Ms. Bonino and HOC Secretary Sergio D'Elia held a press conferences at TRP offices and at the Roosevelt Hotel to debrief national and international media on the status of the international movement on the moratorium presenting also an overview of the death penalty world-wide (check www.radicalparty.org for further info on this).

Ms. Bonino also visited some inmates on death row at Cook County Prison in Chicago, IL, and participated in a Conference on the death penalty at Columbia sponsored by the Italian Institute and HOC (for audiofiles visit www.columbia.edu/cu/casaitaliana) on "Global Movements Towards the Moratorium" (www.handsoffcain.org) at the presence of University Professors, U.S. experts and abolitionists. More visits to prisons are scheduled for November; we will keep you posted on this.

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* INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: 88 SIGNATORIES TO THE ROME STATUTE

With Benin, Sept. 24 and Armenia, Oct. 1, the number of signatories to the International Criminal Court (ICC) Statute have reached 88. Our contacts in the Caribbean tell us that it is possible that before the end of the year three more Caribbean states could sign, while at least a couple, France and Spain, could ratify the Treaty totalling 6 States parties. On Thursday 14, the Radical Party and No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) convened an informal gathering on the ICC. Members of the Bureau of the Preparatory Commission, the leadership of the "like-minded" group of countries, Ambassadors and representatives of the country that have ratified as well as major Non-Governmental Organisations Reps participated in the event. The meeting kindly hosted by the Ambassador of Bosnia Herzegovina and chaired by the Hon. Gianfranco Dell'Alba and Emma Bonino both MEPs and prominent members of TRP provided an info-sharing opportunity. Many delegates expressed their interest in technical co-operation and legal assistance at n

ational as well as at a UN level. At the meeting Mr. Dell'Alba, Secretary of NPWJ presented a resolution he tabled at the October session of the joint assembly of European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific MPs. To subscribe to our ebulletin on the ICC please mailto:

ICC_RATIFICATION-2000_EN-subscribe@listbot.com

for an international press review check www.agora.stm.it/npwj

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* UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER NAMES MEMBERS TO THE INTERNATIONAL INQUIRY PANEL ON EAST TIMOR.

Ine Summer 1997, TRP asked the UN Decolonisation Committee to send a mission of Human Rights experts to asses the situation in East Timor. TRP, which also supported the pro-independence referendum at the UN (see TRP Statement in the "other" section at www.radicalparty.org ), as well as at the European Parliament, recently endorsed UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson's call for the creation of an international Commission of Inquiry for gross violations of human right in the island. On October 15, Ms. Robinson appointed four members to the proposed Commission. The members are: Sonia Picado of Costa Rica, who will chair the team, Judith Sefi Attah of Nigeria, Justice A.M. Ahmadi of India, Justice Mari Kapi of Papua New Guinea and Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger of Germany.

The commission, which should leave for the region following working meetings in Geneva later this month, is expected to complete its investigations and report to the UN Secretary-General by the end of the year. (for updates www.un.org/peace/etimor/etimor.htm).

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* KOSOVO: TRP SECRETARY PRESENTS A RESOLUTION ON THE QUESTION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS AT THE EP

During the month of September, the Hon. Olivier Dupuis, General Secretary of TRP, presented a resolution on the question of political prisoners in Kosovo at the European Parliament. During the conflict in Kosovo many thousands of Kosovars were detained by Yugoslav forces and paramilitary troops. According to reports by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at least 5000 persons are still being detained in connection with various phases of court proceedings on terrorism charges, while in a list compiled by the Red Cross, based on information from the Serbian Ministry of Justice, approximately 2000 ethnic Albanians are in Serbian prisons, including people who were arrested on charges of anti-state activities before the NATO campaign.

The resolution urges the Serbian Government to release immediately all those detained after 24 March 1999, and calls on the UN Civil Administrator Bernard Kouchner, as well as on the OSCE, to bring forward comprehensive proposals for the release of these prisoners. The text also urges the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution which makes it clear to the Serbian authorities that no progress can be made in the peace talks on the future of the region until these prisoners are released. For the complete text of the resolution check the "Radicals in the European Union" section of www.radicalparty.org.

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* WHERE IS THE UNDCP WORLD DRUG REPORT?

On 6 June 1998, the UN convened a special session of the General Assembly (UNGASS) to discuss Drug-related questions. At the UNGASS Undersecretary-General Pino Arlacchi launched a global campaign for a drug free world by 2008. Much money was pledged to the eradication of crops in Latin America and South East Asia, striking deals with no matter who in order to carry out the mandate requested by Mr. Arlacchi. So far, no official UN report has documented the way in which this money has been spent and if international programmes have been successful, moreover, an invaluable source of data and info about international approaches to the drug question, the UN World Drug Report, has not been issued at its due date last June (all official UN documentation on the matter is dated 1998, www.undcp.org). TRP UN Rep Marco PerDuca asked formally UNDCP to provide some info on the status of the preparation of the Report. As of today, Mr. Arlacchi's office has not replied. To know more about TRP drug related activities check t

he "drugs" section of www.radicalparty.org